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Matt Smith & JP check out a ’65 Triumph Bonneville T120C rebuild at Matt’s shop Quaker City Motor Works in West Chester, PA. –Image by Ashley Smalley
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My Friend, Matt Smith, vintage Brit bike restorer at Quaker City City Motor Works & Smoke and Throttle, has joined forces with some very impressive talent– avid motorcycle collector and racer John Lawless, ex-dirt bike racer and experienced filmmaker Ed Buffman, and former director and editor at NBC Shel Brown. The result is this great little trailer for a television show being pitched that Matt would host, called– “Retro Moto”. I’m really excited about it because it’s exactly the kind of show I’d want to watch– all about classic bikes, their history, and the people who love to ride ’em. Check it out after the jump and let us know what you think.
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Matt grew up steeped in motorcycle culture in his home state of Pennsylvania, where he resides today. His father the late, great Robert”Snuffy” Smith raced vintage bikes, and Matt’s cousin John Mcllvaine was a mechanic for Gary Nixon’s protege, Gary Fisher. In fact, you can see some rare and never before published pics of a young, string-bean Gary Nixon taken by John here.
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Gary Nixon wins again (picture courtesy of the John Melniczuk Archives– Mr. Melniczuk is Matt’s mentor in bike restoration, and owner & proprietor at J & M Enterprises in Cedarville, New Jersey) See more old, unreleased images of Nixon here @ Smoke and Throttle
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The Selvedge Yard 
awesome stuff going on here
That’s a great li’l clip with a neat soundtrack.
I’ve been throwing this idea out for a while, that the very best motorcyclists in the world should get together for a championship. They all ride Manx Nortons, two races at each track, Mugello, Laguna Seca, Phillip Island, Brno.
Biaggi, Rossi, Stoner, Lorenzo, Checa, Dovisioso, now we all want to see that, don’t we!
That is a show that I would love to see. Much better than “Cafe Racers”.
Bring it on!
Psyched for this show!
That looks way better than that other motorcycle show. And a much better soundtrack. I see Nobby at the track all the time still tuning a few Nortons for Alex McClean. I can imagine he has some awesome stories. I’ve seen Matt’s postings on BritBike.com for years, hope this comes to the TV soon.
Man, it looks like the motorcycle show I’ve been waiting for my whole life. Hope it gets picked up!!!
Am I the only one for whom the Video here and on Youtube as well stalls about 3 seconds into it ?
Having not seen it yet though I’ll still bet its got to be a whole lot better than Cafe Racer TV , which had all the promise in the World and lived up to none of it …. unfortunately
Yeah baby , got it to work finally . Sign me up to watch if it gets picked up ! I’ll be there .
Only thing i’d suggest is to pair Matt up with a presenter of a certain age to lend a little more credibility to the show .
But having said that , from the clips it looks like a winner to me .
Count me in Mate!
I really hope that gets made into a regular show.
Don’t know if Matt has experience as a presenter, but I thought he did a really good job and that trailer was great. Would really enjoy seeing that show.
Love the Manx Norton.
Here’s a helluva combination for you; go to youtube and search for: Barry Sheene, Goodwood Revival, September 2002
Being a fan of Barry and Classic bikes, that chokes me up…
JP
I can’t wait for this show either. Just wanted to say-I too am one of those who just discovered your blog, can’t tell you how much I appreciate it, I share the same interests. Have been waiting, after spending three weeks reading it, to write an appreciation, guess this is it.
Again, thanx so much for a fantastic Blog that provides a forum for some great opinions and information, esp. from the likes of Irish Rich, GuitarSlinger, XR750 and all your personal buddies. Without being presumptuous, could I ask for something on Briggs Cunningham he put a Dodge Hemi in a car he built himself that won it’s class at Le Mans, Mini Cooper the car that made all our modern front wheel cars possible, and Hodaka the bike that could be considered responsible for the popularization of dirt bike riding in America? Sorry for being so long winded, just wanted to share and become part of the community, edit if necessary.
All the best, Mike